CRS: THE EXPANDED THREAT REDUCTION INITIATIVE FOR THE FORMER SOVIET UNION: ADMINISTRATION PROPOSALS FOR FY2000, May 20, 1999

From WikiLeaks

The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.

Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.

This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.

Responding to the impact of Russia's financial crisis, President Clinton's budget requests $1 billion for FY2000 and $4.5 billion over five years for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons threat reduction programs in the former Soviet Union. The added funds in this Expanded Threat Reduction Initiative (ETR) - 35 percent over FY1999 levels - will augment many ongoing programs funded under Department of Defense, Energy and Water, and Foreign Operations appropriations and significantly expand efforts in science and technology nonproliferation. Some members of Congress may question the initiative's new priorities and some may question whether it serves U.S. national security and nonproliferation objectives.